Erklärungen in rekursiven Verhältnissen
Athanasios Karafillidis
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Athanasios Karafillidis, Erklärungen in rekursiven Verhältnissen (19.04.2024), Beltz Juventa, 69469 Weinheim, ISSN: 2195-0695, 2013 #02, S.218
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Beschreibung / Abstract
Zusammenfassung: Wenn es um Erklärungen geht, dann herrscht in der Soziologie durchaus Einigkeit darüber, dass ›richtige‹ Erklärungen Kausalannahmen implizieren. Doch eine methodologische Verankerung von Kausalität unterschätzt das Problem der Rekursivität - und damit auch das Rätsel der Sozialität selbst. Das unterläuft die Stärke der Disziplin, gerade Erklärungen für Phänomene liefern zu können, die nicht kausal operieren. Eine knappe Inspektion von Durkheim, Weber und Simmel verdeutlicht, dass das soziologische Interesse von Beginn an weniger der Kausalität, sondern der Rekursivität und selbsterzeugten Unbestimmtheit des Sozialen gilt. Doch die Durchsetzung von Kausalität zum Zwecke einer Fusion der Soziologie mit einer von der Entwicklung entsprechender Techniken der Datenmanipulation getriebenen Sozialforschung zwischen 1940 und 1960 hat das wissenschaftliche Selbstverständnis der Soziologie einschneidend verändert. Seitdem fehlen der Soziologie plötzlich die Methoden und der empirische Zugang, die beide offenbar nur noch von einem bestimmten, kausalistischen Typ von Sozialforschung geliefert werden können. Die Soziologie pflegt aber, genauso wie die Sozialforschung, ihre eigenen Methoden und ihre eigene Empirie. Sie weiß um ihre Einbindung in rekursive Verhältnisse und formuliert daher nicht-kausale, kybernetische Erklärungen, durch die soziale Phänomene für interessierte Beobachter nacherlebbar und behandelbar werden.
Schlagwörter: Kausalität, Rekursivität, Soziologie, Sozialforschung, Unbestimmtheit, kybernetische Erklärung
Explanations in recursive circumstances
Abstract: There is a common agreement in sociology that ›true‹ sociological explanations imply causal assumptions. But as long as causality is entrenched in methodology the problem of recursivity - which is tantamount to the conundrum of the social itself - will remain obscure. It subverts the strength of the discipline, which consists in providing explanations of phenomena that do not operate in a causal fashion. A brief inspection of Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel shows that sociology´s interest has never been directed towards causality but rather towards recursivity and the self-generated indeterminateness of the social. However, the implementation of causality for the purpose of merging sociology with a technically-driven social research between the 1940s and 1960s has radically reshaped sociology´s self-conception. Since then sociological theory is seen to be in need for method and to lack empirical rigor. The self-prescribed remedy is a particular causal type of social research. But we should recognize that sociology, just as social research, cultivates its own methods and its own forms of empirical evidence. It furthermore acknowledges its entanglement in recursive circumstances and thus formulates non-causal, cybernetic explanations that allow interested observers to approach and re-experience social phenomena.
Keywords: causality, recursivity, sociology, social research, indeterminateness, cybernetic explanation
Schlagwörter: Kausalität, Rekursivität, Soziologie, Sozialforschung, Unbestimmtheit, kybernetische Erklärung
Explanations in recursive circumstances
Abstract: There is a common agreement in sociology that ›true‹ sociological explanations imply causal assumptions. But as long as causality is entrenched in methodology the problem of recursivity - which is tantamount to the conundrum of the social itself - will remain obscure. It subverts the strength of the discipline, which consists in providing explanations of phenomena that do not operate in a causal fashion. A brief inspection of Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel shows that sociology´s interest has never been directed towards causality but rather towards recursivity and the self-generated indeterminateness of the social. However, the implementation of causality for the purpose of merging sociology with a technically-driven social research between the 1940s and 1960s has radically reshaped sociology´s self-conception. Since then sociological theory is seen to be in need for method and to lack empirical rigor. The self-prescribed remedy is a particular causal type of social research. But we should recognize that sociology, just as social research, cultivates its own methods and its own forms of empirical evidence. It furthermore acknowledges its entanglement in recursive circumstances and thus formulates non-causal, cybernetic explanations that allow interested observers to approach and re-experience social phenomena.
Keywords: causality, recursivity, sociology, social research, indeterminateness, cybernetic explanation